Celebrating our second decade of brewing, Shmaltz
Brewing presents ORIGIN Pomegranate Ale. A
renewal of our original HE'BREW Beer covenant,
brewed once again after 10 years with the juice
of over 10,000 luscious Pomegranates. ORIGIN is a
complex, rich and balanced Imperial Amber Ale
with a truly unique character. The only
Pomegranate Strong Ale in the country!

Reviews by rattech:

Appearance: Reddish brown with a nice two inch head. This appears to more red (as opposed to brown or orange) then most beers. Looks tasty.

Smell: Sweet, but I don't detect a strong pomegranate smell. I'm not sure if I am glad there isn't an overpowering smell of pomegranate or not....

Taste: Fairly sweet, I can detect the pomegranate but it isn't very pronounced. The beer is slightly bitter, but nothing overpowering. The alcohol is only a little detectable. This is a solid albeit mild fruit beer, great for a summer day.

Mouthfeel: Fairly thin for a high alcohol beer, a little better then average.

Drinkability: One bomber is probably enough for dinner and after dinner. I would consider buying this again, and it was pretty reasonable (5 dollars) for the bomber. The 8% alcohol is hidden fairly well. (821 characters)

More User Reviews:

Had this on tap at Rec Billiards in W-S,came from the tap in a standard pint glass a hazed mix of ruby read and brown with a thinner slight off white head.Pomegranate naturally is the most prevelant aroma along with sweet malt and a faint leafy hop presence.Flavors are a bit of sweet and sour from the pomegranate with the sour winning,its defiently malt tilted with some sweet dough with a very light detectable shot of herb in the finish.Not bad it goes down very easy but its not overly complex,glad I at least tried it. (524 characters)

Dubbed as an Imperial Amber Ale, this He'Brew release is brewed with pomegranate juice, and it's kosher too boot! Very interesting and good marketing, as the pomegranate hype has not died yet. (On a side note, for anyone who's never actually eaten a pomegranate, you are missing out.)

This beer pours a bright and clear reddish-amber, with rolling bubbly carbonation that holds the head together well. Big fruity and malty aroma--a bit sweet and tart at the same time. There's a waft of alcohol in the nose as well. Full body, with a rolling crisp- ness that jumps. Heavy fist of dry malt character and some sweetness coming through. Modest bitterness from the hops allows a mild tartness to show for a bit. The fruitiness is far from definitive; the pomegranate is there, but some esters from the 8% ADV overshadow everything. Spicy suggestions of allspice and black pepper hit in the middle with a more pronounced hop character toward the end. Finishes on the dry side.

Again, interesting. Enjoyable? Yes. Could we quaff this down? A bottle for the two of us did just fine. It seemed the pomegranate was lost, and the balance of flavors just did not mesh clean. Aim this one at dessert, perhaps with a fruit compote. (1,266 characters)

A - Coppery, clear, just off white head (that does not seem to go away), lacing that moves slowly to the level of the head as you drink.

S - The cereal and hops come through, not anything fruity from the pomegranate though.

T - More hops that malted grain on this one. Nothing much from the pomegranate.

M - The bitter lingers on this one, nothing from the pomegranate.

D - Sure but not what I expected based on the label.

While not a bad beer it does not match the label. The Imperial Amber Ale part comes through from the malt and hops flavor but I did not get anything too fruity to think of pomegranate. Other reviewers talk about the fruitiness so I wonder if the recipe has been tweaked at any point. (712 characters)

22 ounce bomber, no freshness/brewed on info to be seen, but plenty of other info about the brewery and beer on the label. Pours dark/blood orange amber, fairly clear, light tan head, that initially showed moderate retention, receedes and then leaves some fine and blotchy lacing. Fruity nose. Fruity, malty, easy drinking/tasty brew. Grapey fruit present in the background. 8% no where to be scene. Well worth trying this nicely crafted brew (442 characters)

The beer pours a hazy orange-amber color with a white head. The aroma is heavy on the pomegranate with some toffee. I also get a little bit of cherry and some red grapes. The flavor is more of the same with a ton of pomegranate as well as some grapes and cherries. The fruit really stands out, but the toffee and some alcohol are also present. Overall, the beer is very sweet, which makes it hard to drink too much of. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. (459 characters)

A decent beer. Reddish amber pour with a short head. Nice, sweet malty aroma with some nuts. Syrupy malt and sugar in the taste. The pomegranates stay very subdued and don't overpower the nice malt backbone. Interesting that this falls into an American Strong over a fruit beer. (278 characters)

Appearance: Pours a clear copper amber color with a moderate amount of rising bubbles. About two fingers of off white head that recede into a thin patchy layer. Leaves a good amount pf lacing on the glass.

Taste: Like the smell hints, a malty taste that is fairly subdued with the fruits and hops. Sweet toasted malts with a taste of caramel, toffee, biscuit, toasted bread, grains, butterscotch, and yeast. A light touch of honey and brown sugar. Taste of pomegranate fruit and a slight citrus taste. Earthy hops that provide some moderately drying bitterness. The malts stick out the most.

Mouthfeel:Medium bodied with a moderate amount of carbonation. Creamy and pretty smooth. Alcohol is hidden well.

Overall: A decent beer, but lighter than expected. Could of had a stronger fruit taste. It is really smooth for the ABV. (1,254 characters)

A: Clear and deep amber with a tinge of red, this beer has a white fluffy head, ample carbonation, and leaves long lacing. Honestly, the beer looks fantastic; it has a brightness and color that is very appealing.

S: Carmel malt, pomegranate (one would hope it was there somewhere), and some citrus from the hops.

T: This beer is very surprising. It starts sweet with some fruit but caramel notes quickly take over. Malt, alcohol, and hops take over much of the flavor. The finish starts sticky malty sweet then flows into bitter fruit and alcohol. The pomegranate that is noticeable in the aroma never really come out from underneath the malt.

M: Though the beer appears to have ample carbonation, it still feels heavy and sticky (though it has brief moments of cream).

D: High ABV and the cloying alcohol apparent finish stop this from being a multiple consumption beer.

Overall: I do not mind paying to try something that is new or "gimmicky." After all, many beer styles were gimmicks when they first started. Sadly, this beer did not have total success. It felt like the brewers decided to take the beer to somewhere unexpected; they wanted to keep the beer from being to sweet because of fruit or they wanted to keep it from being to fruity. Either way, the direction they went in was still sweet. Though pomegranate is present in the aroma, it never is fully integrated into the beer. To make matters worse, malty (and sticky) sweetness takes over, and the alcohol interferes with the taste. Thus the beer does not seem balanced. (1,578 characters)

A- This beer pours a warm dark apricot colored clear body with a carbonation of tiny bubbles that support a big light beige head that last for a good bit.

S- The smell of soft toasted dry malt has a faint cherry and pomegranate smell. There is a light honey malt note that comes through as the beer warms a bit.

T- This beer has a full toasted sweet malt flavor with a soft sweet honey flavor. There is a light tart fruit finish and and a dry pomegranate note that lingers a bit after each sip.

M- This beer has a medium light mouthfeel with a clean finish and no really note of alcohol heat.

D- This beer has a nice dry pomegranate bite that replaces the hops and does a nice job of balancing the sweet malt flavors. There is a good complexity and play between the fruit and the hops. (819 characters)

Poured a good looking orange/red with a thing white head that dissipated. Scents of ale yeast, malt and slight pomegranate juice. The flavor begins with dark fruits, citrus and some sour fruity flavors, a mild hop bitterness is also present and allows the sweetness to shine through. There is a pronounced flavor of alcohol on the finish. It has a mildly carbonated mouthfeel with some slight stickiness. Overall it's a good beer, with a combination of bitter, sweet and sour flavors. It may not be everyone's thing, but I enjoyed it. (534 characters)

Love He'Brew's strong ales...its like "how much shit can we throw into a beer?" Also love pomagranate, so hoping for greatness here.

Original review. 8.6.11

A-Rich ruddy amber veiled pour with an eggshell head head that settles to a scuddy ring. Decent lacing

S-Pomegranate surely present here, as well as some caramel malts and dark fruits that one normally finds in barleywines.

T-This is a bit of an oddball. Taste opens with a big sweet barleywine infused with pomegranite juice, and ends rather abruptly in an astringent tangy hop finish. It is an 8 abv that drinks like a 10 abv and this may be it's downfall. I'd take this down a few notches to where it might be refreshing, but since we are reviewing a strong ale, I won't ding it for points on that. Another oddball like Hairy Eyeball.

M-Thick, chewy. Decent carbonation balance.

O-I love Shmaltz....they go way out on a limb, and either totally hit the cover off the ball (Bittersweet Lenny) or totally fuck things up. (Freaktoberfest). I did not expect a summer referesher with this, and will revisit it when in the mood for a heavy and ponderous brew...not bad, just not what I was after right now...

12.25.12 Re-review. I will stand by my earlier review of this. Taste is a cross between a barlewine and an IPA, but I really don't like it much better than I did last year. A shame, because I would really like a nice pomagranate ale. (1,405 characters)

Ok...pomegranate? I love pomegranates...let's see....
Pours a very pretty clear amber with a nice white head that melts to very sticky lacing.

Aroma is mostly all sweet amber malts to me...but very fresh sweet malt with just a hint of fresh fruits.

Taste is blended so well it becomes hard to identify anything individually....sweet amber malts then the pomegranates show their head and sort of overpower everything else.
I think this might be more of a pomegranate wine than a beer in flavors.

Aftertaste is clean and fresh and again, pomegranates.
I really think this should be classified as a fruit beer rather than an American Strong Ale and I think that was the brewers intention as well. (705 characters)

650ml bottle, a sharesie at work from a like-minded co-worker (ok, drinking buddy) on a prototypical Friday afternoon. Yeah.

This beer pours a hazy medium orange-brown hue, with two fingers of puffy, mostly bubbly beige head, which falls away at a duly measured rate, leaving some sparse bits of remote islet lace around the glass.

It smells of strong, rather sweet caramel malt, some middling wet breadiness, a weird early-arriving hit of warming alcohol, and astringent stewed dark fruit - it could be pomegranate, but I'd hardly know beyond that musty juice I tried a few times more than a while ago, now. The taste is bitter, tannic black fruit (still hardly recognizable as pomegranate), yeasty, bready caramel malt, a burgeoning, slightly metallic alcohol astringency, and some dusty, earthy English-seeming hops.

The carbonation is rather low and unobtrusive, the body a pretty solid medium weight, and veritably smooth, with a touch of unrestricted creaminess. It finishes off-dry, the muddled titular dark fruitiness combating the understated hops, as a twinge of bridled booziness does well to head off any further sweetness interlopers.

A readily agreeable strong ale, one with a particularly strange fruit adjunct, which eventually helps it all go down well enough, if only due to its obfuscating effect. Tasty, even if the contribution of the pomegranate is more ethereal than actual familiar and comforting. And if there are any old (and by old, I'm referring the sort of oldness that is alluded to on each and every He'Brew bottle label) connotations involving the pips of the pomegranate, I'm leaving that to another day to investigate. (1,658 characters)

Hoo boy...last beer before I begin a beerless 4-day odyssey into the dark night of the soul...or something. Better be a good one. Here's hoping.

If I didn't know better I'd think this was a double IPA by its appearance. Glowing rusty orange color with a foamy head that leaves lotsa lace stick on the glass.

Nice big blast of molasses/syrup in the nose, with the pomegranate very much in evidence and dancing on top of it all. Also reminds of candied figs and plums.

Flavor is hugely impressive, at first. Cleary a very sweet beer from the get-go (which I can handle) with a fruity/syrupy flavor and feel. The pomegranate works well for a little bit, but gets a little tiring, as it upstages the rest of the flavors and rides into the finish. Finishes tart and even heading over to sour territory. Hops do work their way in to provide some balance. Since I'd rather sip and contemplate an interesting beer even if it's far from perfect than something typical and dull but perfectly-brewed, I ended up enjoying this. An acquired taste, for sure.

The feel is just about right--very round, a bit creamy, dense but not heavy. A bit sticky too.

So you're getting a very plummy, raisiny, fruity beer here (pomegranatey!), full of overripe dark fruits and their accompanying sweetness. Ultimately Origin is very enjoyable, if taken slowly. But perhaps a bomber is a tad too big for this kind of thing. (1,399 characters)

Thanks for sharing, Radek. Light orange colour with a white head. Malty and hoppy, with a creamy though far from full, and sour juicy finish. The taste is significant orangey, and metallic lagery. An odd sourness.A bit of hop. Something different for fruit fans. (262 characters)